From Concrete to Clean Energy: Jack Laken on Turning Buildings Into Rechargeable Powerhouses

Quinton Comino: Hello, everyone. Rechargeable buildings. Have you heard of that concept before? Probably not. It should bring to mind though environmentally conscious sort of ideas.

Quinton Comino: Specifically, our guest on the show today is Jack Lakin, and he's with TurmoBuild. It's his company that he started. And rechargeable buildings has to do with heating and cooling. It's essentially doing more with less, taking existing engineering, existing components, and using that in such a way where you're able to heat and cool your home through the concrete floor in a way that's gonna save you money, and it's gonna be less engineering, and it's gonna be better for the environment overall. This is a brand new concept that his company that he started is doing.

Quinton Comino: It's new to the US. It's new to the world. No one else has been doing it before, and it solves a lot of problems and just really leans into the environmentally conscious mindset. And just in solving things in a new way that others just haven't seen. The solutions kind of been there the whole time.

Quinton Comino: Jack has a history in engineering. He's done it for decades, and he set out on his own to say, hey. Let's provide the solution here that everyone's really looking for. You're gonna learn a lot on this one, finding out what rechargeable buildings means. Jack's got a ton of knowledge on this subject, so tune in.

Quinton Comino: It's gonna be great.

Jack Lakin: Sure. So my name is Jack Lakin. I am the CEO, of TurmoBuild company that, is driving rechargeable, building, systems. What we do is we use regular concrete to enable it as a rechargeable battery, that can store heating or cooling as well as deliver radiant heating or cooling at the same time because the floors radiate.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm. Mhmm. It it so I looked a little bit online and was trying to understand with that, like, flooring concept. And it looks like this is something you can do for new construction or for existing construction. But can can you just describe a little bit more the mechanics of it?

Jack Lakin: Right. So, basically, what we are doing is, usually, we link, the rechargeable floor, which is kind of a ventilated ventilated floor Mhmm. That links with a much smaller, heating cooling system. What's interesting about it is, that, really we're not introducing new technology. We're just linking two well known products or commodities together to deliver much better outcomes.

Jack Lakin: Like, and that is kind of the essence of the technology. And predominantly, what's happening is, the homes or buildings are charged at night, and, so the cycle is very simple. Charge store, release during the day, when it's needed. Mhmm. So this approach actually introduces really a holistic regenerative building approach.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm. So alright. So tell me maybe I missed it. Tell me a little bit more of the mechanics of it, how you charge the building at night. So,

Jack Lakin: because the floor is a ventilated floor, so we basically, let's say so at night, in a summer mode, we have a lot of chiller like nights. Like in California, they have up to seven months of the year, 55, temp 55 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures at night.

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: So they can actually by using ventilation, they can actually, supercharge the floor with cooling for the next day without mechanical, systems. What's interesting, it's actually cleansing the building at the same time because you see the indoor air pollution, occasionally can be more, polluted than Yeah. Outside.

Quinton Comino: So when you say ventilated system, how do you do that? What does that mean? Like yeah. Just just help me with that.

Jack Lakin: So there are two, two approaches. One is before we, let's say, pour a concrete floor, we create a small, let's say, five inch, in residential or six inch, branch ducts embedded in the in the

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Concrete floor, and it's poured. So the ventilate, it's done in such a way that it efficiently is absorbing the energy. If we actually bringing in, for example, 55 degree temperature air, which is free or from the air conditioning system, On one end, from the open air diffuser, on the other end, we get, 69, sixty sixty nine, 70 degrees coming out

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: On the other end, the rest of the energy is absorbed by the slab and it radiates into the space or by the floor and radiates in the space.

Quinton Comino: Oh, so that was what I was kinda curious about because ductwork doesn't I mean, there's not a lot of air to hold inside of it. So you're pretty quickly gonna diffuse all that air into the open space of the house. So I'm like, well, how do you keep it full?

Jack Lakin: Absolutely. Absolutely. So we kind of create a bit of a vortex inside of that labyrinth. You know, so that is where when we are able to, let's say, as I said, pick up, on the input 55 Fahrenheit. And on the open air diffuser, you get, say, 69, 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. So that is a interesting, approach, and it's not done, typically. And, these rechargeable buildings, let's say, or homes in the master plan community, they can become energy sharing homes because all of a sudden, you know, we don't need first of all, we benefit from nighttime discount on energy, which the utilities offer. So right now, we can or what do they suggest? Charge an electrical car.

Jack Lakin: If you don't have it, then you can do laundry at night. But, that's basically how much, you can do. So we're saying instead of charging charging a car, which we may or may not even have, why not to charge the whole building?

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: And what we find is this approach leads to buildings or homes that can basically become zero energy, bills, homes with zero energy bills of add a little bit of solar, which is less than normally suggested. We basically can, be net positive. It means we can produce more energy than we can consume. And we have examples of these buildings, you know, that validated by utility meters, not by opinion. Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Just utility meters.

Quinton Comino: That's good. So, typically, when I think maybe it's just me. Okay? But, typically, when I think of energy saving sort of things, I I think of more expensive. Kinda like when you think of, well, you gotta eat healthy, eat organic.

Quinton Comino: Well, great. Well, organic food's more expensive. But this sounds like a really simple system. This doesn't sound like it's very expensive. It sounds

Jack Lakin: This is it. Mhmm. Exactly. You know what it is? I'll give you a little bit of a background where I'm coming from.

Jack Lakin: I used to own a a fairly a mid sized consulting engineering company that was designing everything that goes inside of the building. Mhmm. And we completed millions of square feet of, buildings of all kinds. Small, big, national, international corporation, so on. I realized that, we as engineers are really trained to support manufactured solutions, and that's why your feedback by saying that, better building should cost more, I was kind of, puzzling and troubling me a little bit or maybe a little bit more than that.

Jack Lakin: So I quit doing conventional, and we, integrated we basically felt that, integrating two well known commodities. Mhmm. Let's say the air conditioning of your choice. We don't influence even the choice. If you like heat pump, it's fine, which basically now it's fashionable, but you can use a regular furnace and, a regular air conditioner, and you can get radiant comfort.

Jack Lakin: So we actually developed software and recalibrate it, that typically conventional engineers do not have. Mhmm. And we have done buildings, you know, in Canada. We've done in United States. Canada, more like a it's a colder climate.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. United States, we had it in, South Carolina, which basically is hot and humid. And we even did projects in India where basically India. Have their own issue here.

Quinton Comino: India? Yes. It's very hot in India. Well, it's hot. Humid.

Jack Lakin: But the issue is not about the heat.

Quinton Comino: Okay.

Jack Lakin: The issue is about how stable the energy grid is. Yeah. So during the day, believe it or not, it was going up and down more often than the stock market in New York. It was not stable. Black notes, brown notes.

Jack Lakin: But at night, it was relatively stable. Yeah. And what's interesting is the energy, grid. Actually, the reason they give discount on energy is because not you know, the need for energy at night is low compared to daytime where basically sometimes they even struggle, and they need to put in, put additional picker power plants to support the very high demand. Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: So what's interesting is at night, when we were doing the charging, first of all, it's cheaper

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: Because the temperatures are lower. And, and, you know, and the whole thing kind of comes together really nice. Mhmm. I'll give you an example in a colder climate, obviously, like the you know, East Coast that we have, you know, Canada, United States. That is, a fairly fairly good approach.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. Buildings are we charge it at are definitely more advantageous to do that, especially if let's say we have all electric building or electric house. But we can use, you know, gas as well, which we basically have Yep. A lot of buildings that they use a combination of. But, really, it's all about simplification.

Jack Lakin: It's really a solution how to do more with less. Mhmm. And that's where we

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Doing more with less. That's where you are. Are there other companies that are doing things like this? Like, this this rechargeable building.

Quinton Comino: I think it has a battery, I think, was a a phrase I saw. Is are there other companies doing this, or this is just really what you are doing?

Jack Lakin: So we're the only ones. Mhmm. They we're the only ones in North America that are doing that. And Why? As I said pardon me?

Jack Lakin: Why? That basically dials back to the fact that engineering community and, obviously, architects to a lesser degree that design buildings are really have the tools to do that. You see the best what can be done, let's say, with the green buildings today, those are the lead bill lead building. Leads are right. Yes.

Jack Lakin: So To flush buildings at night. But flushing, it's not the same like charging or supercharging. Mhmm. And that is basically one of the, you know, drawbacks that, when we were guiding, PhD students in sustainability, they realized that, the word thermal mass, is well kind of, well recognized by architect, but that's about it. And a lot of people are using the word thermal mass, thermal mass.

Jack Lakin: So everybody can store energy, but how to benefit from it in a big way Yeah. Nobody knows. So that's where, you know, we kind of, guess ahead of the pack. And sometimes when they take out half of the equipment, engineers are not comfortable. Yeah.

Jack Lakin: You know, so we guarantee what we do. Yeah. And we have buildings that are listed best performing in both Canada and United States.

Quinton Comino: Wow. So then so the industry is just kind of catch on to this and no one else is even really even trying.

Jack Lakin: Yeah. It's a it's a combination. You see more with less. We're really kind of tripping up, a bit of a food chain.

Quinton Comino: Yes.

Jack Lakin: So let's say if somebody wants to supply larger systems, now we say we need only half.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm. They don't like it.

Jack Lakin: They they don't like it. So so we're kind of forget the troublemakers in that space.

Quinton Comino: Troublemaker. Yeah. You come across as a bit of a troublemaker. You you know you know enough to really cause some damage. You know, perceived damage, I should say, to to someone else as far as the Right.

Quinton Comino: What what they think. So then alright. So is it I I've this geothermal heating and cooling feel like it's more popular. For some reason, the country Iceland comes to mind where they do stuff like this there and, you know, maybe out in Europe and what have you. But this idea and you have, like, pipes that have hot water in them that goes through the the building during the day or I don't know.

Quinton Comino: Things like that. Does that kind of relates to this? Or is you are you like, no. No. Not the solutions is?

Jack Lakin: It relates to it to relates to that. Mhmm. You're absolutely right. However, we don't need all those cost and complexity. We don't need pipes.

Jack Lakin: We don't need hot water. Yeah. We basically can use regular equipment that you put we're putting into the building, especially in the house. Let's say if you have a gas fired furnace or, any you know, basically or a regular air conditioning, all of a sudden can deliver radiant comfort and can deliver energy storage. So the homes or the buildings, they basically become like a hybrid car.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. Most of it is driven by harnessing that free energy, that we surrounds us, and that's where we are. So you're right. Iceland, they do. And in Europe, they do actually put in, in floor heating.

Jack Lakin: But as far as radiant cooling, that becomes a little bit of a challenge because the system's a lot more expensive.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: And to control, the radium cooling Mhmm. Becomes very difficult. Sometimes they, you know, they kind of creates problems, like, sweating condensation and and what have you. Airdribbons don't do that.

Quinton Comino: So alright.

Jack Lakin: The ones that we

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Okay. So sorry sorry to cut you off, Jack. But I now I'm curious because you say that it's costly for cooling, but the way that you describe the system and maybe it would just a simple explanation, but it seemed like, this is really simple. You it's just duct work in the floor.

Quinton Comino: Help me understand then. It it doesn't sound costly with what you're doing, but it sounds super simple. So why haven't other people do it done it? And then is there the system that you could maybe explain?

Jack Lakin: So, obviously, once it's set, there is nothing more to it. It's just basically linking two systems. The concrete floor, first of all, doesn't have well, it's basically, has the ability to, store and release energy for as long as the concrete is there. Like, as a thermal battery

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: It's not disposable compared to, let's say, any others, a Yeah. On the other hand, you see what's happening is the proper understanding that we need about half of it, and we can leverage, you know, free energy or kind of charge it at night more energies at, at a huge discount. In some places, it's, 49%. In some in Texas, could be up to 75% discount. And then in actually, even in, Las Vegas, Nevada, at night, you can get it at 7570% discount at night.

Quinton Comino: Oh.

Jack Lakin: And nobody can do that. So, so it's really the precision engineering setting up, kind of a little bit more advanced control, which basically tells the building to the building or the house at night.

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: And that command is not there. We usually say do night setback. That is a setback in our it was our solution. Mhmm. Yes.

Quinton Comino: So then actual the actual mechanics themselves, it's got than just you put some ductwork in the floor.

Jack Lakin: Right. You see, the way it's set up, it actually creates a active thermal exchange. And that's why if you put a regular duct, as you mentioned, you're blowing air on one end, comes out on the other, not much is happening.

Quinton Comino: Yes.

Jack Lakin: So we need to create, to create

Quinton Comino: Is it vortex?

Jack Lakin: Vortex. It's correct.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Okay.

Jack Lakin: And what we are doing. So our labyrinth, it's not like straight ductwork. It's just, kind of a labyrinth. On the other hand, we can use another product, that is widely used, in many places called precast concrete floors, which they already have holes in them, round holes.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: They're called hollow core floors. And, so and they're suitable for both residential and commercial institutional installations. So we don't even need any branch ductwork to put in. We can just, use the voids inside of the concrete to, you know, again, in a modified labyrinth to create that thermal active exchange. And that part is kind of missing from, kind of, get, get others a feeling

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. Getting involvement from this. So so there would be some sort of access point or multiple access points from the foundation to the exterior. Right?

Quinton Comino: Some sort of vent?

Jack Lakin: Right. It's not any different like in any in any other, let's say, house or building. Obviously, let's say in a house, for example, you may have a couple of vents in one room, a couple in the other. That's exactly what's happening there. So when you look at it, it's everything looks the same except it, feels better, operates better, and the the equipment is smaller.

Quinton Comino: Okay. But but I'm saying you the air has to come outside, and you're getting that into the foundation system how?

Jack Lakin: Right. So you see the, the heating cooling systems are set to introduce to bring fresh air anyway. You have you have a certain amount of fresh air. So that's basically, that can be driven by, the, fresh air intake that we already have. But instead of engaging the heating or the cooling, we just use the ventilation only, when it's, when it's advantageous.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: If we feel this outside are not suitable, then, basically, we introduce, heating or cooling, to maintain the desired comfort.

Quinton Comino: Okay. So then what what are the I mean, every nothing's dry. Every system has limitations. What are some of the of the limitations with turbo build?

Jack Lakin: Yeah. Okay. So the limitations are pretty well dialed back to equipment, that basically, is chosen by, let's say, by the customer or suggested by engineers. So, you know, so that's basically what it it's it's all about. Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: And, you know, the concrete floors are, you know, as I said, they don't they have nowhere, no tear in by the thermal properties. If we wanna change the flooring type, from one to the other, you know, that's, you know, fine. So there are no limitations there. So, really, it's limited to the type of equipment and the warranties that the manufacturer provides.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. So then but what about, like, the 2nd Floor? How if if you if you two story building, single family residence, it's not a concrete second Floor. That that that flooring is in.

Jack Lakin: So So that's the point. So that's basically, you know, we basically would it would be nice to have floor, for the second floor. So that brings up the issue of the cost and and, things like that.

Quinton Comino: Engineering for it?

Jack Lakin: Right. Engine engineering. Yeah. To some extent. Yes.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: But what's interesting is by introducing a concrete floor, we can have much larger spans. So it means that we'd not need extra columns and beams if we use, laminate cross laminated, you know, wood joy, woodness or whatever. Yeah. Because as soon as you kind of go beyond a certain span, they become a little more expensive. Then you need, other things to add there to, you you know in our case in our case, we have look at the total picture.

Jack Lakin: Total picture is that we're getting basically from a regular, much smaller, heating cooling system. Mhmm. We basically not only getting just comfort as as, you know, as comfort, but with energy storage or resilience. Mhmm. We basically end up with, warmer warm or cool floors.

Jack Lakin: Coincidentally, you know that radiant warm floors in United States are only showing up about 3% of the homes. Only 3% have. And it's easy to verify, you know, by, dialing into artificial intelligence, you know, asking how many homes have it. So it will be a pro about 3% somewhere. Radiant cooling, it doesn't show up as a good number.

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: And energy storage, not many are making ice at night Mhmm. You know, for air conditioning in the house

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Or bearing, storage tanks. So altogether, you know, that 2nd Floor, the cost may it depends on that, on the size of the house, you know, in a luxury home or a bigger homes, you you know, that the economics work out really good. Mhmm. In a smaller homes Mhmm. You know, it may may there is a breakeven point somewhere where, you know, there is a certain preference.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. But it leads to, you know, radiant comfort leads to a better good night's sleep as well. Yeah. So that's another interesting point. Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: So it's health and wellness, you know, to be considered.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. So it sounds like like, I'm curious. You you have an engineering background, right, for many, and then you decided, enough of this. I'm gonna go solve something that I'm seeing, and I'm gonna change the perspective that people have because I think it's wrong. How if you didn't have that engineering background, and let's just say you were, like, environmentally conscious as an individual and you wanted to, like, yeah, I wanna provide a solution, and I wanna have rechargeable homes.

Quinton Comino: Like, that sounds like a cool idea. I wanna go do that, and you jump headlong into it. Do you think that you could have done it without your engineering background? Or do you think you could have been successful?

Jack Lakin: That would be a little tricky. That would be a little tricky because, you kind of have to understand how to link, different elements together in a way that they make music instead of noise. And that's what we basically are doing. Yes. You know?

Jack Lakin: Yeah. So definitely the engineering background that I've, you know, use it being exposed to a variety of buildings in different climate zones. Mhmm. And different clients need kind of helped me to fast forward that approach and, I guess, become a little troublemaker in that area.

Quinton Comino: Because because you're not necessarily selling a product in the sense of you've created something new, and there's this new HVA system that works way better than the other ones, and you gotta buy it. What you're selling is is it's like kinda what you said. You need instruments that already exist, and you're making harmony from the chaos. And you're saying, guys, there's a way that we can do things with what we currently have, and it's going to be better. So you're selling an idea, and really it comes as engineering probably, I would I would think.

Quinton Comino: Like, you tell me the plan you wanna build. I'm gonna tell you how to do it this way. That's would would that be accurate? Is is that how you go about it?

Jack Lakin: Right. Because a lot of buildings we developed obviously begin begin begin doing it in Canada. Buildings who could not participate if we are a single source supplier. So in a way, what, you know, we have the capability because we're managing, you know, heating, cooling, air conditioning control systems. Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: We were managing all that and really commissioning and pre commissioning. What was interesting is we could not participate as a single source supplier. We can do a one stop shop. We can deliver you a hybrid building, for example, because that's what we're doing. So I dialed back dialed back to basically providing strategic advice to engineers or, you know, facility planners if they are or developers.

Jack Lakin: And, when they like what they see, you know, and we guarantee what we do, so it worked out okay. But we have the capacity to kind of expand and say, okay. We do one stop shop, but we do, you know, the air conditioning, and linked with the rechargeable floor. So you end up with a hybrid house or a hybrid building. It can be done as well.

Jack Lakin: You know, working, let's say, in on the other end of the continent, like, in India, for example, when we did, you know, we basically, you know, we can ship concrete. You know, it's not a chocolate bar that we can send Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To, let's say, New York to to to, you know, to to India, in Mumbai, Bombay, whatever that is.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So you said single source supplier. They wouldn't work with you if you were a single source supplier, so you had to dial back.

Quinton Comino: What do you what do you mean by that? What does supplier mean? What did dialing back look like?

Jack Lakin: So if we say, okay. We offer a solution, and here's one interesting example. In fact, you know, we had a $500,000,000 development, you you know, in a design build mode where one of the top engineering companies in the world, that build the, that were part of the iconic building in London, the x shaped building that is kind of recognizable when you look at London. Mhmm. They were part of the team.

Jack Lakin: It was $500,000,000 development. And, everybody loved it. The decision makers loved it. But because it was a public project, they would not, they had to change their bylaws to allow a single source supplier because nobody else could provide a competing solution. And that was a bit of a challenge.

Jack Lakin: So, basically, the project didn't go. Although it offered all the benefits Uh-huh. All the benefits, you know, that's, the decision makers liked it, but the legal department, said we cannot do it.

Quinton Comino: Why? Again, what's the problem with a single source supplier? Like a one stop shop. That is that what that means?

Jack Lakin: Right.

Quinton Comino: So why is that a problem?

Jack Lakin: So so it means that, none not no other competing competitors can bid on it. Although the competitors there, like you mentioned, Iceland, for example, they make this tubing, piping, plumbing, pumping Yeah. That they put in the floors. They could have competed, but because we don't need that, we could save about 40 to $50 a square foot in today's dollars. So, we would beat them hands down, but they didn't feel it's the same.

Jack Lakin: So, but I guess in United States, it's it's quite different. Yeah. And, when we offer a value proposition, that could be a lot more, receptive.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. I mean, it it sounds like it's a to me, it sounds like a mistake on to stop, you know, to stop something that every everybody wants and it seems sense. You know?

Jack Lakin: Yeah. Absolutely. I I agree with you. And everybody was kind of, you know, we had a very powerful team. And, you know, the engineers were like world class.

Jack Lakin: It's probably number one and number two engineering company in the world. That bitch said, we will love it. It makes a lot of sense. And in fact, it would have been kind of, would fit into smart city smart city Yeah. Initiatives to do that.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm.

Quinton Comino: Alright. Well, that opportunity, you know, that is what it is. It sounds like you you dialed back and changed at what you're doing. So then what is where you at right now, and what do you see being for Turbo Build?

Jack Lakin: So we are now we basically continue to promote what we are doing. And, you know, when we kind of get into a face to face conversation with decision makers, they like what they see. And that's how we basically get the traction. But, you know, to be in more places at the same time, you know, we need a little bit more, more kind of, interaction face to face. Yeah.

Jack Lakin: So we really, you know, would welcome, interested, parties to to collaborate with us, and we're happy to share to share and, you know, make sure that we're good.

Quinton Comino: Yes. Yeah. To to get your name out there, so people will recognize because it's new. Part part of your trouble is not is not the validity of the product. It's just getting people it's out there.

Jack Lakin: That's it. Because you see, when we say only, we need only half of it. You know, that becomes a little bit of a challenge. Even to some engineers, no fault of theirs because their tools, the software that they use, you know, tell them put in twice as much.

Quinton Comino: Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just doesn't compute.

Jack Lakin: Well, this is it. But, you know, we continue doing. We're making progress. We as I said, we have buildings guide to nets by the Department of Energy, National Renewable Mutual Labs. At that time, and I believe it may remain even now, the largest, net positive development, in, United States.

Jack Lakin: It was six seventy eight thousand square feet.

Quinton Comino: Which was this?

Jack Lakin: It was a portfolio of educational buildings in South Carolina.

Quinton Comino: I think where I was one of the case studies. I was reading about that. Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Right. Yeah. And, so, so it's it's very interesting. So as I said, it has been tested at different climate zones and everything else. You know, it could be suitable for master planned communities because, because they really can actually propel with self and wellness.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. And, and we we can use basically the regular building techniques of manufactured housing. And this link that, rechargeable part, and all of a sudden, they can cater to, a number of different markets. And and now this regenerative, you know, regenerative, let's say, construction or regenerative regenerative housing, becomes very interesting thing.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: There's a lot of, you know, the disease generation and the baby boomer generation and, few in between, you know, they basically, health conscious.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: So, you know, and eating healthy and sleeping, in a toxic house Mhmm. Not not always helpful. Because, a lot of research shows that many of the homes, you know, indoor air pollution is, higher than the outdoor air pollution.

Quinton Comino: Mhmm. Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: Because of the all kind of of gassing and, you know, cleaning and what have it that takes place.

Quinton Comino: Okay. So I don't I don't wanna take too much of your time here, but I'm curious. Any sort of system or process for retrofitting a home, an exist existing home, for it to be rechargeable? Or is it like, hey. This this has to be done when the foundation's poured?

Jack Lakin: Right. So in a host, I would say it would be driven by the cost and benefit analysis. Some could be Yeah. Suitable, some not. So it's not a magic bullet

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: You know, to do that. Some retrofits could be very successful. Some not so much.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Okay. Alright. So if someone's interested, because say they wanna know, hey, can can this work for my house? Is there are there, like, some guidelines or is it a case by case basis What they need to do if they're interested?

Jack Lakin: So the guidelines, basically, we wanna know we wanna know basically what's their preference for heating, cooling equipment. Tell them that, their equipment can deliver, you know, a lot more than, they basically expect now.

Quinton Comino: Yep. Okay. And then if someone's if someone's interested in doing this for new construction, what should they do?

Jack Lakin: You know, if they get in touch with us, we'll tell them very quickly. We'll make an initial assessment, a free assessment, telling them, the difference that could make a big difference.

Quinton Comino: And and and And, Sorry. No. You're fine. Go ahead.

Jack Lakin: Oh, no. Okay. Basically basically, we need to assess what exactly they are planning to do. And, we show them, how much better they can do. In fact, they may be even eligible.

Jack Lakin: Like we're not counting on any grants, taxes, or incentives, but they might, but they could be, they could be, none of our buildings, the government, or whatever, you know, it just basically you end up with better buildings sometimes.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. You're not reliant on that. Like, your success is simply it's visible through what you're providing. You don't rely on the handouts to be successful.

Quinton Comino: Your your your product and your idea stands on its own.

Jack Lakin: Well, they do. And, people, people basically that, use our approach, they definitely, you know, they best benefit from it in more than one way.

Quinton Comino: Alright. So last question here. Just curious. Turmo build, is that an engineering, like, play on words? Why why the name Turmo build?

Jack Lakin: Turmo build is basically that, it refers to thermally charged buildings. So we didn't wanna create, like, a long explainer headline. You know? And, so same like you asked, there what is thermo build? Well, it's a hybrid building, really.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. And it Maybe

Jack Lakin: we should add the word hybrid.

Quinton Comino: No. No. No.

Jack Lakin: As a hybrid building.

Quinton Comino: No. I get it. I I like, you know, like the rechargeable buildings. That concept really sticks in it just really sticksqueryset in my head when I when I hear it. Like, rechargeable building.

Quinton Comino: Okay. That's that's a phrase that I hear often, but it communicates something. And if you don't understand it, it's like, man, I'm curious to find out what does that mean. So that's a great a great phrase. You know?

Quinton Comino: And and the name TurmoBuild communicates as well. It it's it's it's it's environmental. It's it's, geothermal. It's it's energy. Right?

Jack Lakin: Right. So what's interesting, basically, we kinda treat the building as an appliance that actually dials in dials in Yeah. Almost like a smartphone. You see, with Wi Fi enabled, you know, basically, they become, they make a handshake with the energy grid. So instead of being like a consumer that, I need energy when I need it, you know, basically kind of do it in a mindful way that we basically use energy when many many don't need it.

Jack Lakin: So during the day, it avoids and releases the spirit for those that need. Yeah. So that becomes a very interesting, AI. Could AI enabled, let's say, even if it's a master planned community

Quinton Comino: Mhmm.

Jack Lakin: It get it can benefit from the energy sharing.

Quinton Comino: Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Let's say if we drop, during the peak hours, for three, four, five hours, nobody will notice the the discomfort.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. That's really good. Well, I I appreciate your time, Jack. A couple phrases that really stood out to me. Rechargeable buildings.

Quinton Comino: The, you know, the the the the home, it, like, it breathes. There's one, like, a hybrid car kind of that Absolutely. You know, those were those are all phrases that really stuck to me and communicate pretty clearly. Alright. This is what you guys do.

Quinton Comino: This just this makes sense. So, because it's a new concept, and so I'm putting it together in my head. Okay. What what what is this? How does this work?

Quinton Comino: And that helps that helps me understand it.

Jack Lakin: Yeah. In closing, I would like to mention spectacular failure, during the Olympics in Paris of last year Mhmm. When they created environmentally friendly air conditioning. This and they used, their all this piping and what have you. And, what happened is when the US team made an assessment Yeah.

Jack Lakin: They basically said that we better bring in our own air conditioning, and that's what they did. Really? The problem is not that, let's say, the US team was particularly kind of, sensitive about the increased air conditioning. The problem is that at night, they had chiller like temperatures, 55 Fahrenheit. And during the day, it was not going over 90.

Jack Lakin: So if they were to use a ventilation fan and our technology, they would avoid it. They would avoid it Olympic style embarrassment.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know this. I didn't I didn't know this. Wow.

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. You can you can check it, you know, on the Internet. You'll find it's, Olympic team had to bring in their own air condition for Paris Olympics.

Quinton Comino: Wow. And so do you think you know, with with I'll I'll, obviously, I'll look it up. But that was because the Olympic Paris, they just didn't set things up the right way?

Jack Lakin: They set it up according to, the, green guidelines that they have. But their green guidelines are employed by manufacturers. They basically spend a lot of money Yeah. Which basically a lot of nothing. Here you go.

Quinton Comino: Wow. So it sounds like you need to get in touch with Trump for the LA Olympics. That's what you need to do.

Jack Lakin: Well, yeah, because I'll tell you, they have up to seven months of chiller like Exactly. At night.

Quinton Comino: Exactly.

Jack Lakin: So they can use the same principle, absolutely the same principle. And in fact, to rebuild the Palisades, you know, this 15 or 14,000 structures, this housing, they it can become an exemplary, rechargeable, you know, climate smart, that, can share energy between and use very little energy during the day. Mhmm. And they can become zero energy homes, without any without any problem.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Because they would need very little supplementary solving.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. And California would be the place to do that. They they would be over it. Yeah.

Quinton Comino: They they're they're much more lean into that sort of environmentally conscious building. So

Jack Lakin: Mhmm. So far, we, you know, we're still talking. Yeah. But the question is, you know, from to doing, you know, it could be, you know, a little bit of a gap that, needs

Quinton Comino: to be to get there. Yeah. Well, I'm sure you will. And this is part of it, you know, getting your getting your information out there, getting the name out there, the concepts out there. Yeah.

Quinton Comino: That's part of it. Well, thank you, Jack. I really have enjoyed this conversation. Thank you very much.

Jack Lakin: Yeah. My pleasure. And, yeah. Yeah. I really enjoyed as well because you have great questions, and it's a pleasure kind of navigate through Yeah.

Jack Lakin: Any questions that you had. Yeah. And perhaps many others may.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. We'll put this out, and, I may follow-up with you in maybe six, twelve months. We may have you on again and just see how things are going.

Jack Lakin: Sure. You know, actually, I have some, links to videos for on different subjects. Yeah. That I'm happy to share, if you if you choose so. For sure.

Jack Lakin: If you like.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can we can put things in the in the description. And then people will learn on their own.

Quinton Comino: Turmobuild.com. There's a ton of info there. Lots of different building types. How you guys work, the services that you do. The website's pretty comprehensive, it looks like.

Quinton Comino: So great resource there for anyone who's interested in looking and doing their own research.

Jack Lakin: Right. Yeah. So and if we get, you know, if we get some good traction, what have you, so, instead of sending you, you know, a concrete floor, we'll send you a chocolate bar.

Quinton Comino: Thank you, Jack. I really enjoyed it today. Thank you so much.

Jack Lakin: Thank you. Yes. Okay. Bye. Bye.